crossbow vs compound

I'm curious to hear what the rest of you think about the growing fad with crossbows. Despite several of my hunting buddies here in VA switching to them, I've held off. They've been legal here for a couple of years and seem to have added to the yearly kill totals and sales of licenses, so that's a good thing. I know they are loud and slow to reload, but everyone talks about how much more accurate they are. I still believe that if you put in the practice time you can be every bit as accurate with a compound bow. What do you think?

Mine is not all that loud, and i can reload it within seconds of what i can with my compound..I'm not sure accuracy is a whole lot better than with a bow, I still stick to my 40 yard range limit,I have yet to kill a deer with it but i am going to carry it during gun season to does with...

i think crossbow hunting is an unfair advantage to the hunted.the only people that should need to use on are people who ar hadicapped or disabled. nothin against you crossbow hunters. the indians didnt need all kinds of fancy stuff to kill deer so why do we?

As long as they keep it out of my archery season I don't have a problem with it.......mix it in with muzzleloader. As far as an unfair atvantage to the hunted...what about your 30-06? I prefer to bow hunt ant day. It's nice to be able to fall back on the firearms if my freezer isn't full.

Mike,
I own and hunt with both compound bow and crossbow. With enough practice I can shoot just as tight a groups with my compound as I can my crossbow. The real different is room for error in technique with a cross bow. They are a little more forgiving in the field and you don't have to hold the draw back for that perfect shot. That can sometimes seem like forever!
I would rather shoot my compound any day over my crossbow. The crossbow is more point and shoot than a compound. A lot of the addiction of archery for me is in the time I spend in the back yard practicing. I even got the wife into archery via a Pearson compound. I shoot a Hoyt Pro tech and love it. My crossbow is a Ten Point QX-4 and I think about the best crossbow money could buy two years ago. I shot just about all of them before I bought my crossbow. The ten point is fast, pretty quite, and easy to cock with the acu-draw system.
As far as distance goes, I will not take a shot over forty yards with my crossbow. The energy / weight is just not there for the distance shots. I have a lot more confidence in my compound bow when it comes to anything from 40 - 60 yards. That is if I have put in many hours practicing at that distance with my compound bow and I am 100% on the distance and the conditions.
Most days when I am going to the woods I find myself taking the crossbow over the compound bow. I will not lay the compound down all together but I will hunt more with my crossbow. That has more to do with physical issues than anything else.
My best advice is if you are able and happy with your compound stay with it.
I was forced to start looking at other options such as a crossbow. Before you buy any crossbow I would shoot all the bows in your price range and then shoot the bows that are just above your price range. You may want to save for a little longer for a quality crossbow. That is what I did and I am very happy that I did.
I hope this is some help,
David

Why use a bow with training wheels if your going for the challenge of hunting?
I always hear people say how much harder a compound is yet they have all this fancy equipment to rely on. Test yourself and use a real bow like a recurve or longbow, not just another bow with training wheels.

Personally I feel folks should hunt with what they want to but not look down on others decisions to use a more effective weapon. Crossbow, rifle, smokepole, compound bow or bow, who cares just go hunting.

Why use a bow with training wheels if your going for the challenge of hunting?
I always hear people say how much harder a compound is yet they have all this fancy equipment to rely on. Test yourself and use a real bow like a recurve or longbow, not just another bow with training wheels.

Personally I feel folks should hunt with what they want to but not look down on others decisions to use a more effective weapon. Crossbow, rifle, smokepole, compound bow or bow, who cares just go hunting.

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I guess it all depends on WHY you hunt in the first place. If your hunting to fill the freezer and can't do it during gun season, I don't think a crossbow will help you much, nor will a compound that can shoot 330 feet a second and kill a deer at 65 yards. To me, bow hunting is all about seeing how close I can get to a deer, not about seeing how far away I can kill one. These days I see more and more people worrying about high tech equipment instead of good old fashioned hunting skill and woodsmanship. To me it seems that it's just another "quick fix" for some. Instead of working on skills like developing a smooth release, good sign reading, working out a plan that gets you close to a deer, and keeping control of your senses when he is close enough to see the steam coming out of his nose, and good scouting, a lot of people these days seem to want to spend three hours in the woods and come home with venison. There are a lot of perfectly good used bows on sale because people soon realize that a $900 bow won't make you a great hunter. Only hard work and learning about deer will do that. If it gets people in the woods and away from video games, I'm all for it. Hunt with anything that's legal. Personally, I hunt because I love to be out in the mountains enjoying ALL wildlife, I love the challenge of the hunt, and I love the look on a deers face when he realizes that there is a human 25-50 feet away from him, and he's just been stuck. I hunt because I love competing with myself to see just how close I can get to a deer. That's why I have been hunting with a recurve for 32 years and will continue to until I can't draw it back anymore....then I'll use a camera!

I have no problems with crossbow hunters. If its legal go for it. I dont have one and have no need to buy one unless I cant draw my compound any more. I will say that I think theyre easier to use then a compound since it uses gun sights and you dont have to hold the draw like a real bow, you dont need as much practice to be proficient like you do with a real bow (compounds & tradional bows). To each his own...

i own both and like to use both durring the season. most of my friend want one. as far as unfair advantage and the indians, my thought is the romans and others of that era used them to hunt. i feel that if a person wants to hunt with whatever is legal in their state let them. don't hate them.

i think crossbow hunting is an unfair advantage to the hunted.the only people that should need to use on are people who ar hadicapped or disabled. nothin against you crossbow hunters. the indians didnt need all kinds of fancy stuff to kill deer so why do we?

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You are right the indians didnt have all that fancy stuff..in fact by the time the white man had built ships and sailed halfway round the world and discovered the indians they(the indians) hadnt even invented the wheel...

In Mo. making the coparison between a crossbow, and a compound or longbow would be moot point, because unless you are disabled, you can only use a crossbow during rifle season. If I had to choose between a crossbow, and a rifle. Well, I'd just feel silly if a nice deer was standing 100 yards away laughing at me and my crossbow.:tounge_out:

I've had to start using a crossbow this year because of a bum shoulder and hand problems. I haven't been able to bow hunt the last few years, but can get back into the woods again during archery season now. The crossbow has allowed me to get some more time in doing what I love to do.

That being said, I really miss being able to use a regular or compound bow! The only advantage the crossbow has is that I can get it drawn and cocked with the rope aid or crank. It is quite a bit more cumbersome and awkward using it than a regular bow! It's "clutsie" to get drawn in the stand, and the only way to unload it is to shoot it. That means I've got to keep a field tip with me also, just more stuff to keep up with, not to mention I once forgot my cocking rope in the tree and didn't realize it till I got home.

The regular bows are still easier to handle and are more user friendly. The crossbow is just about as easy to shoot as a rifle, but I'm not getting any better groups at the distances it shoots than I did with my hoyt when I was able to shoot it regularly.

As long as they keep it out of my archery season I don't have a problem with it.......mix it in with muzzleloader. As far as an unfair atvantage to the hunted...what about your 30-06? I prefer to bow hunt ant day. It's nice to be able to fall back on the firearms if my freezer isn't full.

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I know this is a touch subject for some but some of us do not have all the time we need to pratice like we should with your traditional bow and I think we all can agree that it takes pratice to be very proficient to make a humane shot with a tradional bow.. With a crossbow it still takes pratice but I it only takes about 1/2 the time. And as far as "keeping it out of my archery season" I have to disagree with this. For the simple reason when muzzleloader season started way back when if I recall correctly we did not have scopes and all the other fancy stuff.

I have to agree with Cody. No crossbows! No compound bows! No recurve bows! No fiberglass bows! Now I'm not a fanatic about this, I don't think that the bow should have to be made of osage orange; after all, not everyone has access to it. Oh yeah, only wooden arrows, too. With points chipped from some natural substance...flint, obsidian, etc.

Seriously, back when I was young, I practiced with a recurve bow till I could be reasonable accurate with it. When they came out with the compound bows, I felt that there wasn't much difference between them and a crossbow. Still don't. If you're gonna allow one, allow both; if you're gonna prohibit one, prohibit both. They both fall into the category of using a mechanical method of propelling the arrow to the target. Sights on bows? Man, if I could have had a 3X or 4X scope on my old recurve, I could have hit a gnat in the eye at 50 feet.

It seems that there are plenty of good opinions on both sides of the fence here. I appreciate everyone's comments. I have to agree with several of you that said the overall hunting experience, not just a successful kill, is rewarding and a big part of why you hunt in the first place.
Here in VA, the sales of crossbow licenses have risen over that past two years but not so much that, statewide, you'd notice no more than a handfull of added hunters in your favorite public spots. A recent study showed that maybe 20% of past bowhunters have converted to crossbows. Again, the good news has been improved kills and a significant gain in $ revenues for the Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries.
Thanks again and good luck to all of you.

I bought one when they came legal to use in Georgia. I shot 3 deer with it the first year. Killed one I know I wouldn't have killed with a compound. I know there are alot of opinions on them but I sure like mine.